We live in the 21st century where we are very dependent on machines to do a lot of work for us. You see and use them every day. If we were to think about it, phones are built to have GPS, call someone from long distance, and are used to send important information through email among other things. Cars, trains, buses, and other transportation alternatives help us get to places that would take hours if we were to walk instead. All these machines that I have mentioned are important and fascinating due to how they work. So how are machines important in the packaging world? Let’s take a further look into the benefits of machines, the disadvantages of machines, and how they can be improved for the future.

How do machines in factories benefit the packaging industry? Well the machines used in these factories are super helpful because they make moving, testing and much more of the packaging process much easier. A machine can do the work more accurately and efficiently than a group of workers could manually. As stated in An Overview of Packaging Robots Benefits and Capabilities, “Packaging robots bring speed, accuracy, and productivity to material handling operations, which has a real and lasting impact on overall production. Most manufacturers who implement packaging robots see a major boost in throughput because the speed of production is not hindered by how quickly manual processes can package, move, and/or label products.” Machines are a great tool for us to use in every aspect of life, but especially the packaging industry. Although machines are more efficient in several ways, there are a few downfalls to machines.

One downfall is that machines such as robots are beginning to replace people for a lot of jobs because they are often more sufficient than a human. Another downfall is that machines are very costly. According to Manual Packaging vs. Automatic Packaging Machines, “An automatic packaging machine can cost anywhere from several hundred dollars to in excess of $50,000.” This does not include the maintenance costs that are expected when a machine needs repair. Despite these challenges, machines are more effective for the packaging industry than people are. For example, machines help eliminate a lot of manual labor. If it was not for machines, we could not do a lot of things that we do today. According to “7 Reasons to Use Robotics in Assembly and Packaging”, machines help produce higher quality and less waste.

Machines have come a long way, but there is still room for improving machines for the future. One way to improve them is to expand the use of robotic technology.

References

Roberge, David. “Why Robotic Packaging Automation Is the Future.” Flexible Packaging Products & Services and Supply Chain Services, 11 May 2018, www.industrialpackaging.com/blog/why-robotic-packaging-automation-is-the-future.

Demetrice’s, Pan. “Robots: Not Just for the End of the Packaging Line.” Foodprocessing.com, 2019, www.foodprocessing.com/articles/2019/robots-not-just-for-the-end-of-the-packaging-line/.

Sam Weller and Chris Jurik | May 15. “7 Reasons to Use Robotics in Assembly and Packaging.” Mddionline.com, 15 May 2019, www.mddionline.com/automation/7-reasons-use-robotics-assembly-and-packaging.

Mohan, Anne. “Packaging Robots: Benefits and Capabilities: Genesis Blog.” Genesis Systems, 7 Mar. 2019, www.genesis-systems.com/blog/an-overview-of-packaging-robots-benefits-and-capabilities.

“How Are Robotics Meeting Today's Packaging Challenges?” Packaging Europe, 3 Mar. 2020, packagingeurope.com/how-are-robotics-meeting-today%E2%80%99s-packaging-challenges/.

“Manual vs. Automatic Packaging Machines.” GWC Packaging, 2020, www.gwcnow.com/blog/manual-vs-automatic-packaging/.